Inquiry to determine whether veteran jurist who
fought city can continue to sit on bench

Jan 09,
2008 04:30 AM

Tracey Tyler
Legal Affairs Reporter

After more than 26 years of judging
others, the tables have turned on Justice Ted Matlow,
who's fighting allegations he misused his judicial
office in a personal battle against the city.

When plans were unveiled for a
six-storey parking garage and retail complex in the
judge's Forest Hill neighbourhood in 2002, Matlow
suddenly found himself president of "Friends of the
Village," a ratepayers' group opposed to the project.

He waged a "persistent" email campaign
to get a municipal affairs columnist to write about the
issue, a five-member panel heard yesterday as a rare
Canadian Judicial Council inquiry got underway in
Toronto.

"I thought it was awkward to be
solicited by a judge and ... I tried to put an end to
it," testified Globe and Mail columnist John
Barber, who received emails from Matlow in 2002 and
again in 2005.

Just days after the 2005 correspondence
landed in Barber's inbox, Matlow began hearing a case
that pitted a citizens' group against the city over
plans for a streetcar right-of-way along St. Clair Ave.
W.

Barber was the first witness called by
lawyer Doug Hunt, independent counsel to the inquiry,
convened to determine Matlow's fitness to remain on the
bench.

It is one of just six such inquiries
held since 1971.

The 67-year-old Ontario Superior Court
judge is alleged to have engaged in misconduct
incompatible with his judicial office, including
political lobbying, and immersing himself in
controversial issues he knew would likely land before
his court.

Newfoundland Chief Justice Clyde Wells,
who is heading the judicial council panel, told Matlow's
lawyer, Paul Cavalluzzo, there's no "serious" question
as to whether his client had the right to join his
neighbours in opposition to the project on Thelma Ave.
in Forest Hill.

But the nature of his conduct is an
issue, Wells said.

In a column, Barber portrayed Matlow as
a man on a relentless crusade, noting the judge also
sent him a large pile of documents relating to the case.

Barber acknowledged yesterday he'd
actually asked Matlow for documentation to back up what
appeared to be baseless claims of impropriety by city
officials.

"I only requested documents to get him
off my back," he said.

The inquiry was sparked by a complaint
from City of Toronto solicitor Anna Kinastowski, who
contends Matlow should not have sat as part of a
Divisional Court panel hearing the St. Clair streetcar
case after levelling allegations against the city in the
Forest Hill case.

Dressed in a grey suit and seated in a
swivel chair beneath the dais, Matlow was also accused
yesterday of using the "prestige" of his judicial office
to further his crusade against the city over the Thelma
Ave. development and gain support from politicians and
the media.

According to an agreed statement of
fact, Matlow emailed Michael Bryant, then Ontario's
attorney general, in November 2003, seeking his help in
blocking the Thelma Ave. project. He asked Bryant to
ensure the city complied "with the rule of law."

Matlow also wrote to Mayor David Miller
and all city council members about the development, on
stationery headed "Justice Ted Matlow." He asked Miller
to reverse "a violation of law."

Ron Lieberman, a retired lawyer who is
Matlow's neighbour and was deeply involved in opposing
the parking garage, told the inquiry yesterday that he
was curious at one point about whether Matlow could be
involved in the grassroots group, given his position as
a judge.

Matlow showed him an advisory opinion
he'd obtained, which seemed to suggest it was all within
the boundaries of acceptable judicial conduct, Lieberman
testified.

"Did you lose any respect for the
judiciary because of the role he played in this
neighbourhood fight with the City of Toronto?"
Cavalluzzo asked.

"No, I actually became more favourably
impressed," Lieberman said. "I thought what Ted did was
very brave, very courageous, very hard and he was very
devoted to it."

"Did you ever ask him whether he spoke
with the chief justice or associate chief justice to see
if this was okay?" asked Hunt.

"I think I asked him if he'd ever had
criticism from anyone," Lieberman replied. "I think he
said there had been one (person) – a lady (judge)."